What: Service that helps
salespeople manage relationships with prospectsWho: Morris Shepard of Impact
Systems Inc.Where: Littleton,
ColoradoWhen: Started in 1995 keeping
in touch with prospects

Keeping in touch with prospects can be a daunting task, and
nobody knows it better than Morris Shepard. Having worked as a
stockbroker and a sales manager for car dealerships, Shepard knew
from past experience how difficult it was to maintain regular
correspondence with customers.

In fact, Shepard often thought about doing something to simplify
the process. In 1995, Shepard got the idea for a new software
program that would automate the process. And with the expertise of
a software developer, Shepard's signature program was born and
christened the Sequential Client Contact System.

Today, Shepard's business uses that software to make it
easier for salespeople to stay in touch with prospects and forge
new potential business relationships. Because of the new program,
gone are the hours spent drafting thank-you notes and letters for
countless customers on a recurring basis. For a mere $95 per
salesperson, Impact Systems does all the work instead.

Shepard, 48, makes daily trips to clients' offices, picks up
prospect contact information from salespeople, and then enters the
information into a database. Notes and letters--a total of 15 over
a five-year period per prospect--are printed out on either
letterhead or card stock. These are delivered to the client, who
simply signs the correspondence and drops it in the mail.

The software also allows Shepard to track the overall
effectiveness of advertising, such as which models sell well in
specific ZIP codes. He provides this information free of charge to
customers, which include car and motorcycle dealerships and
mortgage companies.

Sales for 2001 pushed past the $200,000 mark, and 2002 sales are
expected to increase nearly 30 percent. Shepard is currently
working on modifying the software so realtors can use it as well,
and eventually he would like to license his software to other
entrepreneurs who are interested in starting similar
businesses.

In Golf We Trust

In basic terms, GolfUS.com could be considered the eBay of tee
times. Back when Mike Schaefer, 37, and John Martin, 35, publishers
of the Indiana Golf and Travel Guide, met Web designers Mike
Castelluccio, 28, and Sean Cripe, 30, at a golf show in
Indianapolis, the idea to auction off tee times struck these golf
enthusiasts as a potential business concept. By the end of the
show, the four would-be entrepreneurs had decided to join creative
forces and launch GolfUS.com.

It works like this: The partners design and host high-end Web
sites for golf courses in the Midwest in exchange for tee times
that are then put up for auction on the GolfUS.com website. And,
judging from the high bidding rate, the concept is a formula for
success. "Probably 98 percent of the auctions sell," says
Schaefer.

It's a win-win situation for everyone involved: Golfers get
tee times for up to 50 to 70 percent off regular prices, golf
courses get their sites designed and hosted without spending extra
money, and GolfUS.com gets to keep the revenue from auction sales.
And with almost 50 more golf courses expected to come on board this
year, 2002 sales are projected to exceed $650,000.